


Pasta in a Lemon Cream Sauce

by prodigalDaughter



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: (Noelle's mum is a little neglectful but not hugely so and she has a great dad), (Susie's not Noelle's), Dess as Noelle's baby brother bc I think it's short for December, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, implications of an abusive family but only mentioned, mentions of Rudy and Dess, not in a sexy way though, weird reindeer biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-07 18:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19474696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prodigalDaughter/pseuds/prodigalDaughter
Summary: It's the first time since the end of the school year that Noelle and Susie will see each other, and Noelle may have some Summer Things to explain.





	Pasta in a Lemon Cream Sauce

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I just wanted to be in Noelle's head for a while.

“Rudy told me you have a friend coming over today,” Carol Holiday said as she filled her thermos with coffee and topped up her daughter’s cup. “That’s good. I’m glad you’re studious, but I can’t remember the last time you had a playdate with anyone but that Kris Dreemurr. It’s important for your development to learn to handle social situations.”

“Thanks, mom,” Noelle murmured, her head full of the things she wasn’t saying to her mother. It wasn’t a playdate because she wasn’t five anymore, she’d have told her herself if she’d asked and it was ridiculous that the member of the family who wasn’t currently living at home knew her schedule better than his wife did, there was nothing wrong with hanging out with Kris; they were a good kid, she would probably never be good at social situations— all of it was thought, and none of it came out of her mouth. 

“Have a good day at work,” she added, as Carol grabbed her briefcase and headed out the door. 

“You too, honey,” was the already-distracted reply as the front door clicked shut. Noelle waited for the sound of the car in the gravel driveway, and let out a breath. She drank the coffee slowly, trying to decide if it tasted nicer because her mother had poured it for her. 

Then she remembered Susie was coming over and went into a house-cleaning frenzy. There was a maid, but her job was to clean, not tidy, and it was Noelle who did most of the putting away of objects around the house— and with school out for the summer and her prior schedule fallen by the wayside, she’d been slacking a bit. There were three balls of yarn on the coffee table, only one of which was relevant to her current project; one of her bags of stitch markers had fallen open; video game cases were strewn about the floor despite not having been used much lately, since the console was in her dad’s hospital room; the jacket Dess had decided last-minute not to bring to camp slung over the couch; even her shed antlers were propped on the bookshelf. She wondered briefly where her mother’s were, since she’d come to the table without them three mornings before, but decided they were probably in her bedroom so it wasn’t her problem. 

All right. Knitting things in the knitting basket, games on the shelf under the TV, Dess's jacket in the hall closet, antlers back under her bed to use for a craft or something later. They’d grown in nice and tall the past winter, and she’d been a little sad to shed them, but it was all part of the changing of the seasons. Dad said she’d be used to it before she was an old geezer like him, but she’d only grown her first pair at the age of ten and her mom still had those in a drawer somewhere, so she only had the five pairs stashed under the bed. 

Mail in the sorting file. Breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. Dad’s joke book subscription box by her backpack for her next visit. Fruit properly in the fruit bowl— one avocado felt ripe, so she put it in the fridge. Okay. It would be okay. 

It wasn’t like Susie had never seen her house before— she’d taken to walking her home after school, something which would probably be more chivalrous if she didn’t spend half the time flustering herself into incoherency— but it would be the first time she actually came in, not to mention the first time they’d seen each other since school let out. It had been almost two weeks and Noelle was kind of dying inside. 

She wanted to be a good hostess. What did hostesses do? They fed their guests. Susie was due at half past noon, which was perfect lunch time, so Noelle set to zesting a lemon to use in a nice pasta sauce before realizing her hands were shaking. 

She put the zester down. It was all going to be okay, she reminded herself. Susie would continue to like her despite her weird big house she sometimes felt like a stranger in, and despite her shed antlers, and despite her shaking hands, and despite the two weeks they hadn’t seen each other. If several years of blatant pining over her hadn’t put Susie off, their first semester of actually being friends letting out for summer certainly wasn’t going to. Susie was too loyal, anyway; once she’d latched on, she’d stay. It was one of the things Noelle really liked about her, alongside her broad shoulders and her big cocky grin and her dark eyes, so often hidden behind her hair that it was like a special gift when you got to see them. 

She’d told Noelle all about the Dark World, and even though they hadn’t managed to return there the look on her face was all the proof Noelle needed to believe it was real. Kris thought it’d open back up for them ‘when it was time’, whatever that meant, and Susie had taken to sticking letters for her friend Lancer in the cabinet in the old classroom. She’d left a half-written one open on her desk, once, and Noelle’s heart had skipped a beat when she saw her own name in it, first and last, in Susie’s least messy handwriting. She felt like she’d been introduced to family. 

Being introduced to Susie’s light-world family hadn’t happened yet. They weren’t great people, Susie had said, and hadn’t wanted to talk about it further. The letter to Lancer was more important, Noelle thought. She’d started to think about someday in the future when they could live together; her budding libido wanted to imagine the nights but her swollen heart couldn’t stop thinking about cooking breakfast together, making sure Susie got all she wanted to eat, washing the dishes side by side, knowing neither of them had to pretend anything at all for parents or teachers or bosses. Her parents and Dess could come visit sometimes, and so could Lancer, and of course Kris would be welcome, but Susie’s parents would only be able to come exactly if, when, and for as long as Susie decided. 

It was a good thought. It was a safe thought. It was a happy thought. 

Even though they weren’t exactly officially girlfriends, they both sort of knew it was going to happen. The way Susie talked when they were walking home, the dark flush on her cheeks as she tore her dinner roll in half to share it at the Italian restaurant after a cross-country meet, the way she’d draped her jacket around her shoulders one night as they walked home— even Noelle and all her powers of self-doubt had to admit Susie liked her too. She was trying not to think too hard about having her almost-girlfriend over when there was nobody else in the house, but her only real worries on that score were that she’d say something wrong, put her hoof in her mouth yet again— Susie wasn’t scary. Susie was less and less scary by the day. 

Susie was safe, actually. Susie had always seemed like she could pull an axe out of thin air if you pissed her off, but these days that made Noelle feel unstoppable— and ready to gore anyone who tried to start anything, right alongside her. Well, when her antlers were on. 

The pasta sauce was made and a pot of water was at a steady simmer when the gate bell rang. Noelle quickly slung the burner down to minimum and ran out the door to the gate, trying to straighten her hair as she went and really only putting it even more out of sorts. 

“Susie!” she cried out as she skittered through the gravel, beaming. She unlocked the gate and Susie smiled back, crooked, those big sharp fangs showing— and then she stopped, frozen, confused. 

“What— what’s wrong?” Noelle asked. 

Susie didn’t immediately reply, putting her hands on Noelle’s shoulders and staring into her face. Susie wasn’t scary, no, but Noelle got scared anyway— mostly of herself, afraid she’d disappoint or say something wrong. 

“I know, my antlers, I lost them last week; it happens every summer. It’s n-not that big of a deal, I’ll start growing new ones in the fall—“

“Are you wearing contacts?” Susie asked. Noelle blinked. 

Then she started to laugh. She put her arms around Susie, holding her close, nuzzling into the collar of her leather jacket. She could get so much closer without her antlers, she noticed vaguely, overcome with emotion. Good to know for the future. 

“What, what’s so funny?” Susie asked. “Your eyes are gold now! They’ve always been blue! Are you wearing contacts now? Were you wearing ‘em at school? Do you wear glasses at home, I don’t think I can handle it if you’ve been hiding glasses you’re so freakin’ cute— are you crying?!”

Noelle was shaking, and she only realized she was crying when Susie said it. She squeezed her tightly, then pulled back to look up into the lovely violet eyes that were peering through her fringe with confusion and distress. 

“They do it every year, Susie, like my antlers. They— they change colour. It’s supposed to help us see in the dark of winter, the blue tapetum, it reflects different light—“

“If it happens every year why are you crying? Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

Noelle sniffled, blinking tears out of her newly-gold eyes, smiling up at her. The tears were there, for sure, but they were relief and shock, not sadness or pain.   


“Nobody’s ever noticed before, Susie. Nobody but my family. I mean, Kris doesn’t notice anything, that’s not their fault, but whenever there’s summer cross country meets, or I have to work with Berdly, people in town— nobody’s ever noticed! They joke about the antlers coming off, but—“

“How could they not notice?! It’s— it’s not like the prettiest blue eyes turning into the prettiest gold eyes happens every day—“

Before she could talk herself out of it, Noelle kissed her. She had to rock forward onto the tips of her hooves to reach, mushing her mouth clumsily into Susie’s. It didn’t last long, but Susie was warm and soft and she could feel her breath against her face. She pulled back, heart racing, thrilled by the kiss but afraid she’d misstepped— when Susie wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

“‘Course I noticed,” she said. “I’m not that stupid. I notice stuff.”

“Of course you’re not stupid,” Noelle sniffled. “you’re the best and I really like you.”

“H-hey, you too.”

Susie was nuzzling a little into the top of Noelle’s head, not that she’d likely admit it. 

“C’mon inside,” Noelle mumbled. “I’m gonna make us lunch and then maybe we can kiss again.”


End file.
